Featured Live Labs Impress at analytica 2012

By Paul Mills, Regional Director Posted on 02 May 2012

The 23rd analytica (Munich, Germany), the International Trade Fair for Laboratory Technology, Analysis and Biotechnology, concluded on April 20, 2012, with more than 30,000 visitors at the new Munich Trade Fair Center. The three Live Labs on the topics of Forensics and Clinical Diagnostics, Plastics Analysis and Food and Water Analysis were popular new attractions that generated a great deal of attention.

Norbert Bargmann, Deputy CEO of Messe Munich, assessed the four-day fair, “This year’s highlights included the Live Labs, which did a dynamic and impressive job of demonstrating how laboratories analyze food to identify ingredients or pathogens and how plastics are characterized. Strong visitor interest and positive feedback from the exhibitors encourage us to develop this new concept further.”

The global market position of analytica was expanded by the more than 30,000 trade visitors from over 110 countries and 1,026 exhibitors from 37 countries. Besides Germany, the countries with the largest number of exhibitors included the United States, Great Britain, France, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. For the first time ever, the Analytical & Life Science Systems Association (ALSSA) held a meeting at the fair.

All of the visitors were industry professionals, and according to a survey by the market research institute, TNS Infratest, they came to the fair with intentions to make investments: 20% planned to invest EUR 25,000 to EUR 50,000 in laboratory and analysis equipment, 16% between EUR 50,000 and EUR 100,000, and 29% more than EUR 100,000. “Besides the research aspects of this event, no other trade fair focuses so intensely on business ties,” said Bargmann. Just less than one-third of all visitors were from companies with more than 1,000 employees. Based on the TNS Infratest survey, customer satisfaction in analytica is at its highest in the last 16 years.

Growing interest in the analytica Conference was reflected by the more than 1,700 visitors who participated in the conference itself, an increase of more than 40 percent. According to Dr. Martin Vogel, Chairman of the GDCh Working Group for Analytical Chemistry at the German Chemical Society, “The organizers of the analytica Conference [...] are very satisfied with its outcome. Attendance at this year’s lectures was so good that it was standing room only in many of the rooms.”

One hundred twenty renowned speakers examined the latest trends and current topics in analysis methodology and applications in 22 symposia. Besides the award ceremonies, highlights included lectures on X-ray diffraction techniques in drug testing, point-of-care diagnostics, applications for separation techniques in the life sciences, doping analysis, proteome research, nanoparticles in the environment, and clinical metabolomics.

The Related-Events program included a Biotech Forum, a Laboratory & Analytics Forum, seminars for laboratory experts, Job Day, and Finance Day with information about the latest financing trends in the life sciences.

The next analytica is scheduled to take place April 1-4, 2014.
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